Professional furniture makers have used pocket hole joinery for years... and for good reason. It's a simple way to achieve a strong, permanent joining of two pieces of wood. So exactly what is a pocket hole, and what's so special about it? A pocket hole is simply a hole drill ...more
Decks and patios are a major source of America's entertainment and relaxing enjoyment, but they can be hot in the summer sun. They can actually be dangerous if they reflect the sun's ultraviolet rays. And running your grill during a rainstorm that arrives the same time as your ...more
John Leeke demonstrates using steam to remove heavy paint build up from wood surfaces in this five minute video. Steam paint removal softens the paint film so it can be more easily scraped away. It works well with the heavy paint buildup commonly found on the exterior of older ...more
I love books. I've loved books before I could even read them. I remember spending any free moments poring over the pictures, trying to pick out the words. I can recall the first triumphant moments when words began to make sense to me. I grew up in a house filled with books and ...more
Hey everybody, here is my entry for the medieval building contest. I don't actually care if I win, it was just fun to think about. I have this great book series called The History of Private Life which goes into wonderful detail about how people did everyday things throughout ...more
Calling all curious minds—scientists, anthropologists, relentless tourists: Saturday, April 9th, is International Obscura Day, the day to "explore hidden treasures in your hometown," or so says Atlas Obscura, a website dedicated to public curiosities and esoterica. If you're t ...more
Live in the future (à la Star Trek, circa 1966) with uiproductions' pneumatic air-powered sliding door: "I always wanted a piece of Star Trek and the Disney Monorail in my house, and one thing they have in common is that they both have automatic sliding doors. It would be the ...more
Watch this video from This Old House to learn how to put a deck over a concrete step. Steps: 1. Cut PVC trim boards to wrap around stoop using circular saw. 2. Counterbore holes in PVC trim with ½-inch-diameter spade bit. 3. Apply foam adhesive to back of trim. 4. Run bead of ...more
Watch this video from This Old House to learn how to build a retaining wall. Steps: 1 Dig into hillside 2 ft. back from face of retaining wall. 2 Stretch a level line between wood stakes to establish the wall height. 3 Dig out dirt along base of wall to accommodate 6 inches o ...more
Watch this video from This Old House to learn how to install a towel warmer. Steps: 1. Drain hot-water heating system; turn off water supply to the old radiator. 2. Use reciprocating saw to cut hot-water supply and return lines from old radiator; remove radiator. 3. Cut open ...more
What do you do when you desperately need to put a parking garage into the bottom floor of your Victorian apartment building, but the city's Department of Planning says "No". The simple and expensive answer: Create an elaborate secret garage door. If you own a pretty building, ...more
This is probably the funniest video I've seen this year, they really don't hold anything back. Things you'll see in the video, based on real events: Steve Jobs taking the role of the Emperor from Bill Gates, earning the truth distortion field. Jobs breaking into Jason Chen's ...more
Home accidents. It's up to you to protect your family… your children… from accidents in the home. And there's one place that seems to get the most attention when dealing with safety concerns… The kitchen is one of the busiest, most accident-prone rooms in the house. Design a k ...more
Do you need to lock the door but don't have the keys? This may happen if you are sharing your keys with someone else, staying at a friend's house, or for a variety of other reasons. Check out this video for a sneaky way to secure that door tight without even sticking a key in ...more
You can make a rocket at home using these items found around the house. Icing sugar, measuring tape, a PVC pipe, black marker, hammer, flat headed bolt around 18 millimeters wide , mortar and pestle, drill, drill bit size 5 millimeter, potassium nitrate and kitty litter. You ...more
Driven creatures undermining the very structure of your life – it might sound like a sci-fi flick, but it's all too real when these pests go after your home. Watch this video to learn how to deal with termites. You Will Need * Elastomeric caulk * 6-mil polyethylene plastic s ...more
Don’t throw out that banana peel—or that overly ripe banana. Put them to good use around your house instead. Step 1: Shine your shoes Rub the inside of a banana peel on anything made of leather—shoes, pocketbooks, jackets. Then wipe away the residue and buff with a lint-free ...more
If you have hardwood floors in your house, take a look at your baseboards. Right in front of the baseboards there is usually a smaller, curved molding about ¾” tall. How does this short molding look? Is it painted over, chipped and/or just beat up in general? If so, you can ea ...more
Learn how to build, start and add wood to a fire to create an ambiance and warmth in your house in this free home improvement video. Part 1 of 12 - How to Build a fire in a fireplace. Build a fire in a fireplace - Part 2 of 12. Click through to watch this video on expertvillag ...more
Sometimes, at the end of a build, you may find yourself saying, "I'm pretty much finished, but what should I do next?" One element of a build that is always good to revisit once you're finished is the floor. It's not really a significant part of a building, but it can help mak ...more
1/3 of the city gone, the red colored buildings and homes are the ones that got destructed in the fire.. The fire spreading rapidly with wooden houses and other flammable materials.. People screaming of fear,running away from the fire.. The cause of the fire which lead to s ...more
Have you ever wanted to ride a rollercoaster while listening to Lady Gaga? Or have the Star Wars theme auto-play when you enter your house? You can with Minecraft. Search Youtube for a popular song + Minecraft, and chances are there will be a video for it! Minecraft gives pla ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! It's another Friday, which means it's time for the Weekly Staff Choice Awards. Last week's went great, with Gusse Fant's amazing Steam Fortress taking home ...more
Part 2 Welcome back! In my last post I talked about the exterior aspects and techniques of building a great looking house, and now we shall focus on the interiors. Interiors There are a few important prerequisites to look at before starting the interiors of a house: The ge ...more
Looking to go "Green" When I'm looking to do new remodeling projects around the house, I find myself asking, is this Eco-Friendly? Is this main stream America brain-washing me into a "Greener Tomorrow?" I doubt it! Embracing Eco-minded products is not just good for preserving ...more
This week Farmville is revisiting some old themes for 24 hours each. Tuesday 8/17 Tuscan Wedding Items available again. This looks like the same image as yesterday's mystery game but the time limit has been extended. Monday Day 8 8/15 - 8/16 at 9pm PDT Love stuff! Get ...more
It’s nice to have pollinated flowers and honey, but we could do with out the sting. Thankfully, there are ways to lessen your chances of being barbed. You Will Need * Bee traps * A pest control expert * Mothballs (optional) * Pantyhose (optional) Step 1 Know your bees. Nonso ...more
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or ele ...more
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or ele ...more
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or ele ...more
Watch this video from This Old House to learn how to install attic stairs. Steps: 1. Mark rough opening of new fold-down staircase on the ceiling joists in the attic. 2. Use a reciprocating saw to cut joists and nails holding any joists that must be removed. 3. Cut around cei ...more
Is that House? Built in Minecraft? Well, time to cross out one more item off my bucket list! As inspiration for this week's Minecraft-themed Tuesday Giveaway (enter here to win an awesome Minecraft Pickaxe!), I present a roundup of amazing things found in Minecraft. The great ...more
Artist Austin Houldsworth of the UK has come up with a device that drastically speeds up the process of fossilisation. Entitled Two Million & 1AD, Houldsworth is capable of creating a fossil in a few months (which otherwise might require thousands of years). Houldsworth is cur ...more
WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects. Thanks to all of our active moderators and ...more
ACTION MOVIES The Hunger Games (2012) Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match.Dir: Gary Ross With: Jennife ...more
I know it seems a little redundant to post this when I've already posted a video, but it is kind of hard to get more than a vague idea from the video alone. I hope this sheds a little more light on the subject. I'm sure it also seems like I'm beating this idea to death, but th ...more
Creating any object you want is as simple as point and click if you have a 3D printer at home. If you don't have one handy, there are a few companies that offer printing services online. But to help services realize your design in extruded plastic, you have to make a 3D comput ...more
WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with topics ranging from Minecraft to science experiments to Scrabble and everything in-between. Check in every Wednesday evening for a roundup of user-run activities and how-to projects from the most ...more
My JO was watching The Simpsons on FOX the other day, like she wholeheartedly does every evening, and I joined her, much like I always do— though I must admit, I'm not as obsessed with the cartoon family as much as she is. Just like she isn't as obsessed with SCRABBLE as I am. ...more
In our media-enriched world, past and present, SCRABBLE has made a name for itself, whether deliberately, subconsciously, or influentially. You may have a read a book that had the popular word game within a chapter, watched a movie that showed your favorite characters bringing ...more
Tim Carter, of Ask the Builder, shows a few easy tips for painting wood siding for your house.
Walls don’t last forever, be prepared. Building a house from scratch, a room add on or if it’s just time to turn one room into two you will need to make a sturdy wall frame to ensure the proper construction of your new wall. Reinvent your living space by installing a new wall ...more
You are great at throwing a party but how are you at hiding the evidence? All you have to do is be good and thorough at house cleaning with maybe a knack for stain removal. The trick is to dispose of party trash far away. After a night of partying, cleaning up wells takes tim ...more
In this online video series, learn from roofing expert Tom Shean how to roof a house using metal roofing tiles. Tom will demonstrate, step by step, how to frame for and install metal roof tiles. Learn from our expert how to install roof battens, how to frame roof valleys, how ...more
One of the biggest downsides to having so many gadgets is that you never seem to have enough outlets to power them all. Most of us have a power strip or two to solve this problem, but Instructables user dlewisa wanted something a little nicer looking, so he built this DIY desk ...more
What is it about the fantasy of the treehouse? Escapism. Other worldly, bird-like elevation. Beauty and peacefulness. Backwoods simplicity (although in some cases, truly elaborate works of fine architecture). Whatever the draw is, I'm dying to have my own treehouse in the wood ...more
Have you seen all the adorable miniature garden ideas? Containers of some sort (wood boxes, planters, drawers, wheel barrows, bird baths…) hold a little scene full of tiny living plants along with little adornments like garden benches, hardscapes and paths. They are absolutely ...more
How to repair a stripped screw hole. Look, we've all bought a crappy chipboard piece of furniture in our time that has fallen to pieces because the screw holes are so worn they no longer hold the screw, or have had an old door that is about to fall off because the screws holdi ...more
As our society and population grows, more developments such as housing and restaurants are built. While this is beneficial for us, it's not so great for the environment and the animals that occupy it. Some of the victims of our prosperity have been the birds, forced from their ...more
Do you hate giving up a big chunk of your paycheck every month to pay rent? It doesn't have to be this way. Whether you decide to live the nomadic life in a van, volunteer on an organic farm, or live with a host family in another country for free in exchange for chores, livin ...more
Last year, Instructables user Horatius.Steam created Dr. Brain, a small computer connected to a model brain that can tell stories and have Skype conversations. But one thing it couldn't do was print, so to solve that problem, he came up with this awesome Steampunk "Ticker Mach ...more
Old newspapers come in handy for many different uses around the house, from birdcage liners to shipping cushioning and even a little fish cooking. But for backyard rocket scientists like Markus Bindhammer, they're more suitable as an ingredient for rocket propellant. Video: . ...more
Pottery Barn has teamed up with Google to create 3D Room View, a new mobile app to allow all wannabe interior designers (like me) to pick out the perfect couch, table, or whatever, and then overlay it onto a spot in his or her house. I used to obsess over the Pottery Barn Tee ...more
Furniture gets beat up—it's a fact of life. Your beautiful tables will end up scratched, the legs of your chairs will grow nicked, and you'll find interesting dents and damage in other places around the house, too. Yet if most of your furniture is made of wood, you don't have ...more
With the upcycling revolution, folks are turning their otherwise useless junk into something functional for the home. Practically anything that you would normally toss or recycle can be reused for a bigger and better purpose. Your milk jugs, chopsticks, toilet paper cardboard, ...more
There's something primal about the smell of smoking food. Somewhere deep in the recesses of our souls, we remember a time when humans only ate by the fire. Or perhaps that's just something I tell myself. Either way, it's hard to smell smoke and food and not feel like you shoul ...more
There are a lot of frustrations when you're dealing with cramped living quarters, but you can do a lot of good cooking in your tiny kitchen if you make the most of your space. These storage hacks will make it easy to cook delicious meals, no matter how limited your square foot ...more
Besides the obvious, fingernail polish can be pretty useful around the house—for men and women. It can keep your buttons from falling off, sort your keys, prevent your shoelaces and hoodie strings from fraying, and even curb rust rings in the shower. Turns out, nail polish als ...more
Sometimes you just want to kill a whole bunch of things at once, or to paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson in Jackie Brown, sometimes you absolutely, positively got to kill every mob in the room. Well, the automatic machine gun is the way to do it; accept no substitutes! Here's a vi ...more
The guitar is a double-edged sword. I've played all my life, and though I love the act of guitar playing, there are quite a few people I could live with never hearing play again—ever. Paradoxically, it seems that the less dexterous and committed to practicing are the more lik ...more